1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a tube clip for tubing.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Brake, HVAC, and other types of hydraulic tubing are installed using tube clips, especially in motor vehicles. A long piece of hydraulic tubing is secured by tube clips at a number of discrete points. Each of these points reduces the vibrations to the tubing from its ends. This vibration can otherwise lead to damage to the tubing, either by fatigue failure of the tubing, or by causing the tubing to bump against nearby components, which can eventually wear through the tubing. Thus, if a tube clip is misinstalled or broken and consequently falls out of its mounting bracket or surface, the tubing is at risk due to unconstrained vibration in the area of the bracket. This unconstrained vibration allows the tubing to repeatedly bump against the bracket itself and lead to tubing failure. Because the tubing is used with hydraulic lines, especially brake lines, this can cause the loss of hydraulic fluid and lead to dangerous failure.
Many types of tube clips, such as those with xe2x80x9crabbit earsxe2x80x9d retaining flanges, have been used in the prior art to hold such tubing. Prior art rabbit ear flanges do not have a positive locking shank. These tube clips, for example, typical insert into a bracket or other mounting surface by using resilient arrowhead-shaped shanks or cross tree designs. The resilient shanks have a number of disadvantages. The tube clips with cross tree shanks, for example, can be accidentally left only partially inserted into a slot during assembly. Therefore, Therefore, they can loosen or work their way out of the slot in which they are inserted after final assembly. In addition, cross tree shanks have a number of small resilient legs which are thin and can easily break, both during and after assembly with the tubing.
To make sure the prior art tube clips are properly installed when assembling the tubing, the assembly worker must check for loose or missing tube clips, and either tighten the loose tube clips or reinstall the missing ones. All of which could take additional time during assembly and requires additional parts being stored down the line.
Therefore, one object of the invention is to design a tube clip that provides production line reliability. The tube clip should provide a high degree of certainty of being properly mounted and staying properly mounted. A second objective is to design a tube clip with a shank or cam with few parts for strength and durability. Another object of the invention is to design a tube clip that is easy to insert into and remove from a bracket. Still, another object of the invention is to reduce the possibility of failure of the tubing due to vibrational stress.
According to the invention there is provided a tube clip with a clip end and a cam. The clip end has a base, first and second sides and a channel. The first and second sides are at opposite ends of the base and perpendicular thereto with the channel in between. A slanted guide extends inwardly along the length of the first side distal to the base. A slanted outer face extends inwardly along the length of the second side distal of the base. The slanted guide and the outer face align to cooperatively guide a tube into the channel.
The cam has a head and a stem connecting the head to the base. The head has a beveled edge and a shoulder. The shoulder projects from the beveled edge toward the stem and overhangs the base.
The design of the tube clip allows the rotation of the tube clip after insertion into a mounting support. Preferably the installed tube clip can rotate no farther than about a quarter turn or about 90xc2x0 after insertion. Additional effects, features and advantages will be apparent in the written description that follows.